Do I Have to Take the GRE? Standardized Testing in MPA Admissions

Abstract

Graduate-program decision makers face a similar challenge: how to design an admissions process that screens out applicants who are unlikely to succeed but does not provide too high an entry barrier for students who can be successful. This study catalogs the use of standardized testing in Master of Public Administration admissions and finds that less than one third of programs require standardized tests for all applicants. Moreover, program prestige, program diversity, and program size do not affect the likelihood that a program requires the Graduate Record Examination. This study also reviews the various standards that universities use to provide test waivers and also discusses other common application materials. The results should be of interest to undergraduate academic advisers and graduate-program directors as well as scholars and practitioners of higher-education administration more generally.

Who Sends Scores to GRE-Optional Graduate Programs? A Case Study Investigating the Association between Latent Profiles of Applicants’ Undergraduate Institutional Characteristics and Propensity to Submit GRE Scores

“…Cahn [8] interviewed faculty members and others directly involved in graduate admissions at 30 health programs that did not require the submission of GRE scores, asking them to indicate how successful their efforts to enroll diverse classes had been; 20% of interviewees responded "successful", 13% responded "somewhat successful", and 44% "not successful" (23% did not answer). Cooper and Knotts [51] surveyed Master of Public Administration programs and examined relations among program prestige, program diversity, and program size, and whether or not the programs required submission of a test score; none of the associations were significant. Dang et al [31] examined whether including or excluding GRE scores benefited or harmed underrepresented applicants relative to majority applicants in two population health programs.…”